According to Graphic Online, a total of 23,495 individuals tested positive for HIV in the first half of this year, thus from January to June.
In fact, 2% of the 948,094 individuals who underwent HIV testing between January and June of 2022 made up this number.
Moreover, men, pregnant women, non-pregnant women, homosexuals, and female s3x workers were among the various demographic groups represented.
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In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra, the National STIs and HIV/AIDS Control Programme’s Programme Manager, Dr. Stephen Ayisi Addo, stated that even though the half-year number from last year was 25,545, this year’s figure was too high.
He said:
“The figure for this new infection is too high, so we need to intensify education to let people know that HIV is still real.
It is around and there must be constant reminders. We have to let people know that they need to stick to the prevention strategies, whether they are children or adults,” he added.
He claimed that, of the persons who showed up for testing, 4% each were from the Bono, Ahafo, Eastern, and Western North areas, while 3% each were from the Ashanti and Greater Accra regions.
in addition, he claimed that for the remaining regions, some had 2% and others had a percentage for each.
Meanwhile, the majority of the 23,495 persons who tested positive, according to Dr. Ayisi Addo, have now started receiving HIV therapy.
The cause of an increase in HIV Cases
The programme manager said that, unlike smallpox and other illnesses that had been eradicated, HIV was still prevalent in society and that, as long as people engaged in sexual activity and were getting married, they would spread the disease to others.
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He also said that the new cases were the result of ignorance and complacency, saying that because public health officials were no longer raising awareness of the disease’s hazards, people mistakenly believed there was no longer an issue.
“Some youth today don’t know HIV is there. Some know, but they have assumed that it’s gone. People are now more afraid of COVID-19 and the Marburg fever than they are of AIDS,” he emphasized.
According to him, only 71% of the anticipated 350,000 HIV-positive people in the nation as of December 2021 had been detected by the control program.
It is worth noting that nearly 245,000 of those people, or 98%, were receiving treatment in June this year.
Furthermore, he went on to say that 79% of people with the illness who were taking their medicine had achieved the viral suppression stage, where the illness was no longer contagious.
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Conclusion
So guys, what are your thoughts on this year’s rise in the number of HIV-positive cases?
Are we safe?
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